Tuesday, January 18, 2011

One of my favorite things to use merit badges for is scrapbooking or journaling. I like the simple idea of just pasting the badges into a moleskin journal and handwriting the tale of what was endured/accomplished/overcame to earn the badge.What a great gift that would be to give your kid when they have their first child!

If you are more talented with your memory preservation skills (as I am not) you can make something a bit nicer and more complete. This scrapbook was featured on write.click.scrapbook and designed by Elizabeth Dillow. I love the images, lengthy text and merit badge embellishment.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Check out this funny story Michelle used to win a badge in a recent giveaway with Get Born magazine. I can really imagine this. I might have come close to living it! "I once showed up for an (adult) birthday party with my sweater around my waist and a sling across my chest because in the ten minutes it took me and my new infant to get out of the car and to the door, my baby had nursed and puked it up drenching my white shirt, pooped and put her foot in her diaper while I changed her then stamped her poop foot on my chest, and I stained my pants with unexpected post partum bleeding!!! I walked into that party like a battle-hardened warrior carrying a plate of cupcakes"

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

My daughter and I made maps of our hearts. Mine in my journal, and hers on a piece of watercolor paper folded like a map.We were inspired by a local poetry coop and this post. What a sweet and contemplative project this was. Eva wrote about the things that were so important to her, like her imagination, pets, famuly (sic), friends, and breakfast. This is hanging in her room and so purely captures her at seven, with all her rainbow, sparkly self. I enjoyed making mine too, although it looks so restrained and organized compared to hers - such is the life of a grown up. This would be a great after dinner art project for a whole family to do - pretty simple and pretty revealing (mine has things like coffee and quiet creative time). We just used a black sharpie marker and watercolors. What else could you make a map of? A map of my brain? my desires? my favorite flavors? my previous homes? Endless.....

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Are you making resolutions this year? Lists of things you want to do more of, better, more efficiently? Or things that you will stop doing all together? After years of putting things like, "learn how to make puttanesca sauce" on my list, I decided to try something different. Inspired by this post several years ago, I have switched to a single word. I love the contemplation of this one, single word. What is the one thing I need more of this year? How can I distill all my wishes into one word? It is a challenge, but one that has given me more energy and hope than the huge bucket lists I have made in the past.

So, this year my word is tend. A simple word that is not nearly as flashy or impressive as words in the past - but one that really captures what I need to do this year, which is to take care of what I have. I want to tend to my electronic files and finances, my micro businesses, my garden, my sewing and creative attempts, my relationships, my health, my community, this website. I do not need to seek anything new, just cherish and nourish the riches that are all around me.

I still have some BIG goals in my future (India!), but I think I will get to them by tending to all the threads in the rich web of my life. The stronger my web is, the more I will catch (as opposed to years past where I was constantly casting about - like the spider hanging on a long silk, ballooning around wondering why she is not catching any insects.)